Living here in the Pacific Northwest, one of our blessings is the predominant use of hydro power for electricity - it has its own environmental impacts of course, but the alternatives (particularly coal) are much worse. These people are fighting the very real health problems of living near a coal-fired plant and not getting any assistance from a near-comatose federal government.
We do have a bit of coal controversy brewing here, because if certain plans come to fruition large quantities of coal will be shipped through our Northwest cities on the way to feed the ravenous appetites of a modernizing China for energy. Coal dust is not the same as the coal ash residue (the Chinese will probably ignore that aspect as they ramp up) which has arsenic levels some 300 times a 'safe' level...but it makes one pause - there is not a lot about coal that can be classified as 'good' other than it burns....sort of....
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